


Louder than Bombs

by Livrin



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, SixTONES (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Undercover Missions, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26562043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livrin/pseuds/Livrin
Summary: Most people travel for the experience, for a change of scenery, for unwinding from hectic schedule, for networking social life. Here huddled under a small cafe’s awning, waiting for the rain to peter down, they stood opposite each other, toes touching, exchanging secrets for breath. Here under Brussel’s cloudy sky, surrounded by centuries old buildings possessing more characters than any role they’ve ever played in every scenario, they were nameless faces out of fancy makeup and high brand fashion, sporting three days-old beards and threadbare T-shirts. Here they traveled to get lost.
Relationships: Kyomoto Taiga/Jesse Lewis
Comments: 8
Kudos: 5





	Louder than Bombs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [takaraikarin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/takaraikarin/gifts).



> Happy birthday [Karin!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/takaraikarin/pseuds/takaraikarin). Hope I didn't botch their characterizations too bad. Anyway, happy birthday again, all the best wishes, and thanks for being such awesome friend all this years! Credit to _'take me to museum'_ meme and lines goes to the creator. If anyone have info about them, please inform me so I could credit it properly.

Most people travel for the experience, for a change of scenery, for unwinding from hectic schedule, for networking social life. Here huddled under a small cafe’s awning, waiting for the rain to peter down, they stood opposite each other, toes touching, exchanging secrets for breath. Jesse tugged at a scarf coiled around Taiga’s neck, a small boyish grin at the corner of his mouth to Taiga’s impatient _‘tsk’_. Here under Brussel’s cloudy sky, surrounded by centuries old buildings possessing more characters than any role they’ve ever played in every scenario, they were nameless faces out of fancy makeup and high brand fashion, sporting three days-old beards and threadbare T-shirts. Here they traveled to get lost. 

‘Stop that, what, are you an overgrown dog or something,’ Taiga bat away Jesse’s hand currently tugging and pulling at his half wet scarf.

Jesse chuckled, ‘You’re cranky when you’re wet. Why is this news to me? I never remembered this version of you when we used to do Navigator.’

‘That’s called professionalism, you might not be familiar with it. Must be hard to teach stubborn puppy like you new trick,’ replied Taiga with a playful look in his eyes.

‘’What, you mean a trick like _‘fetch’?_ ’ Jesse mumbled, ‘yeah, yeah, I’m getting a hard time figuring it out. How did it go again?’, as he nudged Taiga away from the awning’s shelter into the pouring rain.

It has been a while since Taiga was last active in the scene, so he didn’t pay much attention to his workout regime aside from the usual cardio to keep fit. Jesse has always had the advantage of mass and height on him, plus the younger guy just finished yet another action heavy project and their current difference in body mass easily sent Taiga staggered several steps away too far from where Jesse originally intended it to be. The resulting cursing was as familiar as rolling around and waking up to a half asleep smile on the rare morning they manage to spend lazing around in each other’s space.

‘Aw, sorry there, it really is hard for me to learn new tricks. Is it something like---this?’ Jesse snatched at Taiga’s old ruined maroon wool scarf and used it to reel him back in, faces inches apart from each other, ‘hey old boy, do I remember it, right? Or should I go and play _fetch_ again?’

Taiga’s resulting pained expression and long suffering groan made the cheeky grin Jesse spot stretched even wider. ‘Come on, if we got there late the entrance line will be too long,’ Jesse looped his arm around Taiga’s small waist and used it as leverage to push him forward.

‘I thought you’d have already reserved tickets for us in advance.’ 

‘Oh would I ever miss the chance of seeing you get all cranky and sweaty? You know that’s my favorite thing after coffee.’

\+ + +

Sometimes Taiga ever wondered what’d happen if he was to follow in the family tradition of arts. Would his life have been vastly different now. As he stood under detailed arches and glass ceilings of Belgium’s Royal Museums of Fine Arts, rooting to the spot in front of a painting as blue as his feelings. He remembered of summer days in childhood, coming into the house smelling of fresh grass and bright colored handprints smudging his playing clothes beyond recognition. He remembered his mother’s tinkling laugh ‘ _oh he’s definitely gonna take after you_ ’ and his father's proud conviction ‘ _nah, he’ll be better than me_ ’, all the while politely holding in his laughter at Taiga’s scruffy appearance.

‘Smile and wave, babe,’ Jesse’s voice suddenly broke through his reverie as he smoothly draped his arm around Taiga’s shoulder, effectively maneuvering him to face the other way. Taiga blinked and found himself waving at a group of family, attractive young couple with their three little children. 

‘You target unsuspecting family now, too? How low can you go, really,’ Taiga raised an eyebrow.

‘Hey now,’ Jesse looked at him with a wounded expression, ‘they asked me to take pictures for them. I’m not that much of a criminal,’ he took Taiga’s hand and they walked along, ‘although it doesn’t hurt that the wife is a friend of the curator here.’

‘Hm, show off,’ Taiga said to Jesse’s cheeky face. ‘You know we’re not supposed to abandon the plan. This is why you constantly get yelled at by Juri.’

‘I call this improvising, better to be unpredictable, puts some spice into your life, come on!’ Jesse swung Taiga’s hand back and forth as they walked toward the modern art contemporary exhibition wing.

‘Oh you don’t wanna see me be unpredictable, trust me.’ Taiga replied with just hints of a teasing smile. From the corner of his eyes he saw Jesse turned at him and gaped. But then the younger guy quickly shook his head, sighed, and assumed their walking tour. 

Taiga wondered if maybe he had gone a bit too far here, to toe the line was already dangerous enough, but this felt like he was one step away from crossing it completely. There was a sting of consciousness mixed in with sadness and a bit of anger thrown in weighed his mind. _‘This is not the time for that’,_ he told himself and refocused his mind, ‘So what’s the plan now, Mr. Smith?’

‘The plan is we go have lunch, babe.’

\+ + +

The lady manning the front desk at their B&B greeted them warmly as they came back from strolling around the city. Their smiles at her tinged with tiredness but by the time they entered their room the temperature plummeted beyond zero. Pretty much like a flip had been switched in the atmosphere. LIttle touches and gentle whispers dropped in exchange for tight lips and efficient business like manners.

Jesse moved briskly to check the room as Taiga pulled out his cellphone. Catchy J-Pop songs immediately blared filling up the small space. At Jesse’s nod, Taiga took out another cellphone, much more old fashion, flimsy sad looking thing nobody ever used these days, and punched in the number he’d memorized by heart.

‘Triple Frontier Tours and Travel! How may we help you today?’ a smooth professional lady answered his call.

‘I’d like to speak to Mr. Tanaka about the Night Train package tour, please.’

‘One moment, please.’ she replied and the line went dead.

Jesse came back, bluetooth earpiece placed in, and offered him a local beer they had in stock. It was lukewarm, Jesse shrugged as Taiga made a face at it. 

Not even five minutes later, the same cellphone started trilling with polyphonic tones, Taiga answered it at the first ring while adjusting his own earpiece.

‘Status report, guys.’

There’s been-- a slight change of plan.’

‘....What.’

‘Jesse made contact with this woman at the museum today. She’s a friend of the curator. We ended up having lunch with them.’

‘No, no, no, you do not make contact with unknown subjects. You follow the plan and you do _not_ deviate from it.’

‘She’s best friend with the curator, she could get us an in faster than our original plan,’ Jesse said defensively.

‘I’m sorry but what kind of green trainee in the first week shitty plan is that? You think we’re running a book club meeting here, Lewis? There are reasons why we have plans in place. Reason number one being : avoiding dying!’ Juri hissed vehemently on the line. Jesse cursed and Taiga winced.

‘Look, Yugo’s still down from his last mission and we’re still dealing with the fallout from Hokuto’s mess. Our plan’s pretty much toasted clusterfuck in the making. The other only option is to scrap it off altogether,’ Jesse abandoned his beer can, shifted forward on his seat, unconsciously trying to get closer to the cellphone still being held by Taiga. Lines of faces and eyes went sharp and hard, gone was the playful flirty young man who so readily curled his frame around Taiga’s own throughout their outing today. In his place was someone as familiar as painful as coming back to childhood home that has been razed down to the ground.

‘That’s why we have you two do some recon and lay low there, while we wait for the other situations to be fixed. We’ve put down too much groundwork to scrape out the mission. Modification is fine, but only after we’re sure of all the intels. Not shotgunning as you go, dude,’ Juri’s voice sounded muffled with a faint rattling sound behind him. Taiga would bet it was cause he was rooting around for his bottle of aspirin.

‘For the record, I don’t agree with it, but with the way things have been going here, I think his plan could be promising. Can’t stay here too long and risk locals getting too familiar with our faces,’ Taiga said.

‘And yet you happily went on a lunch date with these two unsubs,’ Juri deadpanned.

Taiga shrugged, ‘I’ll let Jesse answer you himself on that one.’

‘These bourgeois people, you know how it is with them, man. They love having little parties with their fancy napkin folding and cups too small for me to drink from. This woman, she’s planning on holding a surprise birthday party for her mom at the museum next week, her curator’s friend facilitating it and all. If we played this right, it could be our in.’

‘Oh great, now we’re involving senior citizens, too.’ Juri clapped sarcastically.

‘But think about it, dude, it cuts the timeframe of this mission a lot. We could be in and out in a week, two tops.’

‘It also puts your faces directly on the radar of locals, people of interests, and possibly more cameras I refuse to think about, how is that a better foolproof plan compared to my original one of you two laying low and scouting.’

‘We could always scrap it all, just like I said--’

‘--and _I_ said--’

Taiga sighed and slouched lower on his seat, putting the cellphone on the table, and resigning himself to a long (most probably unproductive) night.

\+ + +

Whenever his friends would proudly introduce him to new people as _‘this young handsome curator I know’,_ Taiga always gave them a small secretive smile. Not because he was being modest, though he was certainly not lacking in that aspect, but because he never considered curation as the final fixed point at the end of his road. He was still unsure of what, but he still got a long way to pursue it. 

He was about to go out for lunch when one of the gallery assistants came up to him, uncertainly informing him about someone specifically mentioning his name and requiring his assistance.

A foreigner with a set of high cheekbones and warm eyes was the one who met him that day. 

‘Hello, you’re interested in Lacomblez’s works?’, Taiga greeted him.

The foreigner chuckled self deprecatingly and answered him in japanese, ‘You must forgive me, I know nothing about arts. I just enjoy looking at them.’

‘Yes well, appreciation is the seed that starts the whole journey anyway. Arts don’t have to be classist and inaccessible.’

The other guy stopped and watched him with a curious look in his eyes, ‘I’m sorry, I’m Jamie Tanaka. I’m looking into diversifying my portfolio but as you can see, I’m more than a little helpless on that side.’ He spread his hands, the same self deprecating chuckle washed over Taiga warmly.

‘Well, arts have always been an excellent investment instrument. We can talk as we go--’

\+ + +

Business lunches turned into _Noh_ performance invitations turned into fine dining outings interspersed with lame _oyaji_ gags while table assistants politely turned a blind eye.

‘Take me to art museums and make out with me,’ whispered daringly in between opera’s intermission.

‘They said not to touch the masterpieces,’ said with the perfect sniff and indignation as a passing imitation of people they just shared a box with. 

Coquettish eyes and bitten lips answered him back mockingly.

‘But you know something?’ long strong fingers cradled the back of a frail neck too easily, it swallowed it whole in that sure grip.

‘What?’

‘Somebody’s gotta pin the artwork to the wall.’

‘That’s awful.’ 

Chasing laughters into each other’s mouth, moulding deep into the thrill of companionship and drunk on the simple essence of being and existing with each other.

‘You’re the best art I ever steal from that world,’ Jesse whispered with reverence most only reserved for Monalisa.

\+ + +

‘This is why I never agree with this plan,’ Taiga mumbled while vaulted over a marble beam, narrowly missed colliding with Baertsoen’s _‘_ [ _De Leie_ ](http://wiki.cultured.com/people/Albert_Baertsoen/) _’_ and cursing himself for the transgression.

‘I’m sorry?? I remember somebody mentioned _‘this plan could be promising’_ ages ago,’ Jesse panted into the commpiece.

‘Didn’t mean I agree with it,’ faintly Taiga could hear the alarming sound of commotion approaching him quickly from the opposite direction, ‘give me something to work with here, Y. Or your birthday gift would go to S-chan.’

‘Oh god, we’re going to die, we’re all going to fuckin’ die,’ Shintaro swore into his comm piece.

‘Your panicking doesn’t help at all, S-chan, just be there with the car on time,’ Juri cut in, his voice crackled and tense.

‘Stop backseat driving, how about you be the getaway driver next time, JR!’

‘All of you stay off the channel!’ Jesse yelled.

‘What, so you two could go do your little bitter exes bickering, while the rest of us stuck listening to it? I’d rather eat my shoes,’ Hokuto interjected sarcastically.

‘Shut it, H. Also, if you didn’t agree to it you should’ve said it more clearly, T.’ said Jesse while informing Shintaro he was approaching the pick up point.

‘It was a discussion. Our original plan was a dead end, we need to come up with something fast. I was respecting you and your opinion. But it didn’t matter anymore cause you and JR decided on it on your own,’ Taiga kicked open the stairwell door into the deserted underground parking lot of the next door’s building.

‘What?’ Jesse made a frustrated sound, ‘no, no, we decided on it cause you didn’t say no to it. We would’ve-- you know what, this is what I meant when I asked you to please, please, talk to me if you’ve got something to say.’

‘Oh so now it’s all my fault? The mission blows up in our collective faces, the unsubs being undercover agents, all of those are my fault, isn’t it.’ 

‘Uuh, guys--’

‘No, it’s all my fault! I admit it. I tried to sell it too hard. But what I’m asking for is a completely different thing here. Communication, T, we need to start doing it better if we’re at least gonna make it work.’

‘Yeah, whatever. Been there, done that, we agreed to play a different card,’ Taiga jumped into the car as Shintaro swerved to a quick dizzying stop in front of him, before gunning for the exit point. Jesse, a looming figure sitting on the backseat.

The rest of the journey was spent in tense silence. 

\+ + +

Sitting still watching the play of waves on a wide expanse of sea on a moonless night like this felt like trapped in a time loop. All the lethargy post minute-to-minute adrenaline rush came enveloping Taiga and ready to drag him under. 

Jesse came down from the upper deck, wordlessly handing over a medkit pouch. Taiga accepted with a silent thanks while starting to rip off his ruined right sleeve.

‘You, um, you want me to help you with that?’ Jesse shifted on his foot, standing awkwardly near some boxes filled to the brim with ice for frozen fishes. The already chilly temperature dropped even lower.

Taiga considered saying no cause his wounded pride just can’t take any more hit of Jesse’s misplaced gentleness. Not after their ugly earlier fight, reopening old wounds in front of their close friends. Not after the whole dangerous make believe sham they’ve kept up for two whole weeks. But above all that Taiga felt so drained, emotional and physical, he just wanted to hit the sack real quick and wake up back on the shore.

So he nodded wordlessly and handed Jesse the medkit back. The other guy took it and gingerly sat on Taiga’s right side.

‘I’m really sorry. For earlier.’ Jesse said quietly, eyes concentrating on dressing up Taiga’s graze wound.

‘It’s fine. Let’s not do this today.’

‘I shouldn’t have said that back then. Not the place or time,’ Jesse continued with the same careful tone, ‘it’s just-- when it comes to you, I get so stupid sometimes. Well most of the time, really,’ he said with the same self deprecating chuckle Taiga so familiar with.

‘Back then, when you said you needed some time off, I agreed to it cause I never want to push you to be in anything you don’t want to be. I admit, I thought it’ll just take a couple of weeks, one or two months, for us to sort it all and get back together. But then, I noticed you started to get, I don’t know, stressed out? When I tried to talk to you about it? So after a while, I figured I just gotta learn to accept and deal with it.’

Quietness settled on the cabin, only the rustling sound of Jesse working on Taiga’s wound permeated the air.

‘I’m not saying this to start anything. I just-- what happened today, and back then, I just need you to know that I value your opinions, Taiga. Always have been. Yeah, we’re exes, big deal, but it doesn’t mean we’re also not friends and I gotta stop caring about you. I guess what I wanna say is please trust me more, not even as partners, but friends and team members. If you got something on your mind, just tell it to me straight, you don’t have to baby me and my feelings. I can handle it, both personally and professionally,’ Jesse finished his task and stood up.

‘Careful with that and go have some rest. Shintaro said we’ll get to shore in two hours,’ Jesse moved to go back to the upper deck.

‘I was afraid.’ Taiga informed the dark cabin.

Jesse stopped in his track.

‘It was getting too real, too fast. Between that and the life we lead after I started getting involved in this scene-- I was not sure how to handle it,’ Taiga leaned back, closing his eyes to the sway of the fishing vessel. If he had to do this today with Jesse, at this disadvantageous position, he might as well do it while resting and avoiding looking at the man. Not sure if he can be completely honest otherwise.

‘I needed some time to process it all. But I admit, you trying to broach the subject back then just made me feel like I got even pushed into a corner,’ Taiga released shuddery breaths. 

He heard footsteps, getting nearer and stopped right in front of him. Taiga opened his eyes, the poor lighting backlit Jesse’s profile, making it difficult to read his expression.

‘What are you trying to say here.’ It was probably the first time Taiga had ever heard Jesse sounded so lost in all the time he’d known him.

Taiga took a deep breath and took the plunge.

‘I’m trying to say I’m sorry for making you wait. I’m saying, I’m here. If you still cared about that sort of _‘making it work’_ thing.’

  
The crushing hug enveloped him reminding him of Lacomblez’s _‘[De droom van Novalis](https://www.fine-arts-museum.be/nl/de-collectie/jacques-lacomblez-de-droom-van-novalis?letter=l)’ _and being swept by violent undertow of the sea. Blue, blue, full of jagged sadness and delayed glitter of fractal lights.

**FIN**

**A/N :** Alternatively titled : _'Jesse and Taiga are art thieves and they're mediocre at it, but they're even very very bad at feelings'._ My knowledge of Sixtones is pretty much on par with Jesse/Taiga's art thievery prowess in this fic, so please excuse it if I unintentionally ruined canon. Anyway thanks a lot for reading! Comments are always welcomed!


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